fellow,' he said. The broken veins in his nose said he'd had a lot of practice pouring down wine, and it certainly didn't seem to affect him. He turned to the slave. ' 'Aven't you got that yet, Alyattes?' 'Just now, master,' the Lydian replied in his singsong accent. He pried the stopper out with the knifeblade, then lifted the jar and poured some of its golden contents into what were indeed small cups. ' 'Ere you are,' Aristagoras said to Sostratos, and handed him one of the cups. 'Now, this jar was laid down in the year Alexander died, which makes it' - he counted on his fingers - 'thirteen years old now.' He smiled the easy, friendly smile of a man who bought and sold things for a living. 'It's getting close to a man's years on it. Go ahead and taste - don't be shy.' Sostratos sipped the sweet, fragrant wine. He smacked his lips and made polite appreciative noises. Had he not been trying to buy the stuff at something close to a reasonable price, he would have burst into cheers. 'Very nice indeed,' he murmured. 'Nice?' Aristagoras said. 'Nice?' He donned indignation as readily as he'd put on friendship. 'My dear fellow, that is the authentic Ariousian, the best wine on Khios - which is to say, the best wine in the world.' 'I said it was good.' Sostratos sipped again, determined to be as moderate as he could. It wasn't easy. The wine was so splendid, he wanted to guzzle like a Skythian. 'But whether I can afford it is apt to be a different question. How much for a jar would you ask?' 'For one of the usual size, of a little more than half a metretes?' Aristagoras asked. Sostratos dipped his head. The wine merchant plucked at his beard, which had a couple of reddish streaks that were going gray. At last, voice elaborately casual, he answered, 'Oh, twenty drakhmai sounds about right.' Sostratos jerked as if stung by a wasp. 'I know I'm young,' he said, 'but I hope you won't take me for a fool. When I was in Athens, I could get a khous of Khian for two drakhmai, and one of those jars won't hold above seven khoes. So you're asking more - half again as much - wholesale as an Athenian tavernkeeper charged at retail. If that's not robbery, what is?' 'There's Khian, and then there's fine Khian, and then there's Ariousian,' Aristagoras said. 'Any Khian is worth three times as much as the cheap slop they make most places. I say nothing about Thasos or Lesbos, mind: they turn out pretty good wine, too. But most places?' He wrinkled his nose and tossed his head before continuing, 'And Ariousian is to regular Khian what Khian is to regular wine.' 'At twenty drakhmai the jar, the gods on Olympos couldn't afford to drink it, let alone mere mortals,' Sostratos said. 'You're bound for Italy, you said.' Aristagoras looked sly. ' 'Ow much can you charge for it there?' 'That's not the point,' Sostratos answered. 'The point is, how much would you charge for it if I weren't going to Italy?' 'Not an obolos less,' Aristagoras insisted. He looked so very sincere, Sostratos didn't believe him for even a moment. 'Are you going to tell me that a tavernkeeper here in Khios city pays you twenty drakhmai for a
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